He said the exit polling service had to "answer for" the inaccuracies.

Sabato said the unusual mistakes were way off base. He noted one exit poll had Kerry winning Pennsylvania by 19 points.

Results so far show Kerry winning Pennsylvania by a tiny margin, smaller than President Bush's margin of victory in Ohio.

Sabato hinted that the exit polling's errors might not have been a mistake. He noted that media commentators read the exit polls all day long.

When pundits see these polls they begin to skew their commentaries so they look like they are in tune with what's happening, he said.

In this case, Kerry's supporters became very enthusiastic.

Sabato noted that the exit polls could have the effect of depressing, and suppressing, voters for the candidate who is "supposed" to lose.

Editor's note: